There’s a hydraulics trainer from the USA who has put a hand pump and a bunch of connectors into a fancy box. And he promotes this kit around the world as a hydraulic troubleshooting system. Like a crusader.

One of my Hydraulics Pro Club members asked me for my thoughts on it. Not the crusader. His hand pump troubleshooting doohickey.

Well, the 19th century industrialist Emmerson Harrington nailed exactly what’s going on here when, more than 100 years ago, he said:

“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.”

A hand pump is nothing more than a method. And to paraphrase the wise man Harrington, folks who try this method while ignoring principles are sure to have trouble. It means the first time some poor soul maims or kills himself, or damages a critical piece of hydraulic equipment using this hand pump troubleshooting doohickey, the crusader will lose his house.

This also likely explains why most advisory committees to America’s technical colleges will not recommend to their colleges that they include troubleshooting by hand pump in their curriculum. I wouldn’t recommend it either.

I am told the crusader is visiting down under next year to train Aussie vocational college (TAFE) teachers how to teach hydraulic troubleshooting by hand pump. Be afraid. Because should the crusader be effective in this endeavor, we could see a whole generation of techs running around with hand pumps, plugging them in to troubleshoot hydraulic machines. I know God won’t save us. But artificial intelligence might.

The crusader promotes his hand pump troubleshooting doohickey by posting hydraulic circuits on his LinkedIn page and asking his followers how they would troubleshoot them. The ‘correct’ answer always involves opening up the system and plugging in his hand pump. To folks with limited hydraulics knowledge these exercises make the crusader look like a wizard and his hand pump a magic wand. But these exercises are completely biased and therefore misleading.

The standard you walk past is the standard you accept. And I’ve decided not to walk past. We can do better. We should do better. So I’m reposting the crusader’s hydraulic circuits to my LinkedIn page and explaining how a pro would troubleshoot them. Efficiently and safely. Principles before method. And NO hand pump required. This is something I will continue to do as and when time permits.

So if hydraulic troubleshooting interests you, and you grasp the need to separate method from principles, visit my LinkedIn page and check it out.

Oh, and don’t forget to share this blog post with all your interested friends and colleagues.